In the riot-hit western Uttar Pradesh, the BJP on Sunday accused the Congress of triggering communal riots in the country and said the ruling Samajwadi Party in the State was not far behind. While BJP president Rajnath Singh held the Samajwadi Party responsible for the Muzaffarnagar riots, party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi hit back at Congress president Sonia Gandhi saying it was the Congress which sowed the ‘seeds of poison’. Modi also criticised the Samajwadi Party and its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav saying it was ‘samaj virodhi party’.
Reacting sharply to Sonia’s zehar ki kheti barb, Modi said the Congress only believed in divisive politics and the party had widened sectarian rift in the country. Addressing a massive rally at communally sensitive Meerut on Sunday, Modi lamented that communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh had continued unabated, and promised a riot-free State if the BJP was voted to power.
“There has been no communal riot in Gujarat during the last ten years. It is now on the path of peace, harmony and development. The BJP will ensure freedom from rioters and murderers in Uttar Pradesh. We will give you a riot-free State,” Modi said amid loud applause from the crowd which had gathered from all 14 parliamentary constituencies of Western UP, including the neighbouring Muzaffarnnagar and Shamli.
Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh Police had made a provision of a bulletproof enclosure for Modi taking into account the threat perception, but the Gujarat Chief Minister chose not to use it and rather address the gathering from the open podium.
Taking a jibe at the Congress chief, the BJP prime ministerial candidate said, “Sonia Gandhi had told Rahul that power is poison. The Congress has been in power for the maximum time since Independence. In whose stomach has this poison goneIJ Who is spewing this poisonIJ Who is harvesting the poisonIJ They (Congress) are the ones who sow the seeds of poison.”
Modi’s counter-attack came a day after Sonia at a rally in Karnataka accused him of indulging in divisive politics. “The country is seeking answers from the Congress to the burning issues but its replies are vague and irrelevant. People ask Sonia Gandhi why farmers are committing suicide; but her reply is people are sowing seeds of poison,” Modi said.
In his 50-minute speech, Modi also criticised the ‘nexus’ of Congress-Samajwadi Party at the Centre and Congress-AAP alliance in Delhi and sought a clear mandate in the upcoming lok Sabha elections. Modi projected himself as ‘chowkidar’ of the public wealth and promised that he would not allow anyone lay ‘hand’ on this. While Modi was relentless in his attack on the Samajwadi Party, Rajnath Singh spared no words to criticise the Congress.
The Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have presided over hundreds of riots in UP. The Congress alone has perpetrated thousands of riots across the country. The killing of lakhs of people after partition of India in 1947 was also due to the Congress. Thousands of Sikhs were killed in 1984 but the Congress never apologised. It instead asks Narendra Modi to apologise for the 2002 riots,” Singh said, adding Modi had already condemned the riots.
launching a tirade against the Congress, the BJP president maintained that Modi never justified riots, unlike Rajiv Gandhi who had justified the killings of Sikhs after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “Rajiv Gandhi had justified the riots saying ‘when a big tree falls, the earth shakes’,” he said. Referring to the recent riots in Muzaffarnagar, the former UP chief minister blamed the SP Government in State for perpetrating the riots. “Neither public nor the police are to be blamed for riots. The Samajwadi Party is responsible for the killing of innocent and it should be punished,” he maintained.
Calling the SP as ‘samaj virodhi party, Modi said, “No development has taken place in Meerut despite being one of the fastest developing cities in India…The SP Government is also silent on the plight of sugarcane farmers who are forced to commit suicide. The crime rate in Uttar Pradesh has increased by 240 per cent during the last ten years and accounts for 45 per cent of the total crime registered in India,” he said.
Modi also advised SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to compete with him over the issues of development and not in terms of rallies. Taking on the AAP, which is being seen as a potential spoiler for the BJP in forthcoming lok Sabha elections, Modi said the recent ‘humiliation’ of an African woman by its government in Delhi brought ‘disgrace’ to India globally.